


giving off sparks

by Dresupi



Series: X Men Quicktaser [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Gift Fic, Meet-Cute, Minor Charles/Erik, Minor Jane Foster/Thor, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Suspension Of Disbelief, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-13 23:08:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11770362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: They meet when Darcy's apartment building burns down and Peter returns her cat.  She's wearing a pink nighty and he doesn't get her name, because he's kind of at work.What starts with a cat and cookies, almost ends because he's kind ofalwaysat work.But when two people really want something to happen, they figure it out.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bloomsoftly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloomsoftly/gifts).



> This is a birthday gift for bloomsoftly! :D It's the gift that keeps on giving! And will for probably the rest of the month! So YAY!
> 
> It's an extension/continuation of two of my shorter prompts. (I'll link them later, it's late...)
> 
> Also, this is hella unbetaed...so all mistakes are mine. Also, this is a hella fluffy rom com, so don't come here expecting accuracy. All my research comes from google, and the purpose of this fic is to have a cute, fun romance between two of my (and bloom's) favorite characters in an AU type of situation. <3 So I hope you all can keep your concrit to yourselves. <3 Let's just all have fun, okay? <3

It all started with a beep. Well, multiple beeps, actually.  

And it was really more like a loud, ringing...it was horrible.  That was the point she was trying to get across..  

Darcy sat straight up in bed and coughed immediately.   

The air was hot.  Acrid.  Smokey.  

There was a fire. That made the most logical sense.  More than her initial reaction/explanation.  The world was coming to an end.  

She had a tendency to lean more towards the dramatics when she was half-asleep.  

Leaping into action, , she called out for Jane.  “JANEY!” She yelped over the smoke alarm.  “JANE!”  

“I’m here...come on, Darcy!”  Jane’s hand wrapped around her arm as they ran for the fire escape.  

Darcy took one step outside and immediately regretted wearing her satin nighty.  It wasn’t freezing, but they were sitting right at the tail end of summer, so the nights were a little bit chillier than usual. 

And she was barefoot.  

And she was about to be in front of all her neighbors.  Damn her for wanting to feel pretty once in awhile.  She had no business wearing this when no one was going to see it.  

Technically, her ever-ridiculous-need-to-be-right pointed out, everyone was going to see it, so mission accomplished.  Everyone was going to see how pretty she was.  How pretty and coughing and homeless she was.

But, she was alive.  That was the most important thing here.  Alive.

It didn’t matter how fantastically inappropriate her attire was, she was alive.  

She was halfway down the fire escape when she realized Bowie wasn’t anywhere to be found.  “Oh my god, Bowie!”  she said, stopping still between the second and the first floor.  

“Go!”  Jane instructed.  “He’s a cat, he’ll get out.”  

“But he’s my baby!”  Darcy muttered under her breath, tears coming to her eyes as she thought about her ‘baby’.  A five year old, super fat, super laid back cat with a penchant for cuddles.  “What if he didn’t get out?”  

“He’ll be fine,” Jane assured her, but Darcy wasn’t really assured.  

They hopped down from the first floor ladder and Darcy gingerly started walking towards the street to get away from the building.  

She wrapped her arms around her chest and looked up at the building where she and Jane had lived for the past three years.  Everything they owned was in there.  

A lump rose in her throat as the shriek of the sirens reached her ears.  “All your research, Jane…”  

“It’s on the cloud,” Jane replied, even though her voice was wavering too.  “Your recipes?”  

“Cloud,”  Darcy choked out.  

“Good.  See?  We’ll be okay…”  Jane reached over and wrapped her arms around Darcy.  “Or I will, because I wore flannels.  You’re going to freeze to death.  Or poke your own eye out with your nipples.  Whichever.”  

Darcy shot her a look and would have shrugged out of her grasp, but she was warm and she didn’t really want to.  

Her recipes were actually super important.  She’d have to make sure they either burned up or got returned to her.  Her fledgling bakery would never get off the ground if someone found her recipe for wasabi ginger buttercream.  Or her jalapeno bacon brittle. Or her pride and joy:  Honey Nut Banana Chippers.  Those cookies were paying the rent right now.  

They’d been featured in a couple of restaurant blogs.  Plus, a certain well-known TV chef made it a point to stop by for six dozen every Monday.  

The fire engine pulled up and the firefighters all piled out and got to work.  Streams of water were aimed at the building and ladders were put up to the windows of the upper floors.  

“I hope everyone’s okay…” Darcy said suddenly, thinking of old Mrs. Braverman in the apartment above theirs. “Hope everyone got out.”  

“Me too…” Jane said, tightening her hold on Darcy.

“I don’t see Bowie anywhere…” Darcy murmured, her grip on her emotions wasn’t exactly the strongest currently.  And she was definitely shivering now.  She wasn’t sure if it was the temperature or her nerves though.  Maybe a little of both.  

“He’ll be okay,” Jane said.  “And  _ we’ll _ be okay.  And everyone else too...look,”  she gestured around the sidewalk.  “Look, everyone’s here. And a whole bunch of firefighters went up there to check and make sure.  And I’m sure Bowie’s just hiding out until all the action’s died down.”  

Darcy hiccuped and nodded.  

For a long while after that, both of them trembled in silence as the flames engulfed the building.  It took hours to put it out completely, and by that time, someone had draped a blanket around Darcy’s shoulders.  And Jane had sunk down onto the sidewalk to rest her head on her knees.  

Darcy still stood there, though. Waiting.  

She asked a few people if they’d seen Bowie.  People who might know what he looked like.  But for the most part, she stood and worried.  And waited.  

Most of the fire was out by five a.m.  Jane had gone to call for a cab and find a place for them to stay for the night.  Her boyfriend, Thor, was out of town, but the keys to his place had been in the apartment.  So it was looking like it was gonna be the hotel life for them until he got back.  

Darcy was considering just sleeping on the couch in her office at the bakery, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep where she worked.  Or if the smells wouldn’t just keep her up and salivating all night long.  

No matter how long she’d owned the bakery, she still loved at the smell of butter and sugar being mixed together.  Buttercream was life.  

Plus, if she found Bowie… She gulped and looked back up at the burning building.  Bowie wouldn’t be able to live in the bakery, so maybe a hotel was a better choice for right now. 

One of the firefighters approached her.  He was talking.  Talking to her, it looked like. 

She heard his voice before she really understood what he was saying.  

Most of the firefighters were still here, helping people get where they needed to be.  Jane was taking care of the where, so Darcy didn’t really pay attention to what any of them were saying.  

“Excuse me, ma’am?”  he said again, louder.  He was right beside her, so she looked over at him.  She couldn’t pay much attention to his face right then, though.  Because he was holding Bowie!  “Is this your cat?” he asked, almost timidly and definitely averting his eyes when she reached for her cat and her blanket fell to the ground.  

Darcy burst into happy tears and hugged her cat close.  Her cat, who simply mrowed like he hadn’t been through hell and back.  He smelled like smoke.  But he was uninjured and in one piece.  

She turned back to the person who’d returned him.  “Thank you so much!” The person who, now that she was looking, wasn’t half bad to be looking at.  If someone was in the market for someone to look at.  

Which she guessed she was.  She hadn’t had someone to look at in a long while.  Might as well, you know... _ look. _

She could tell what his hair looked like, but he had warm brown eyes.  And a really nice smile.  And he was young.  Not that most of the firefighters were old or anything, but this guy was really young.  Or maybe he was just blessed with a really young face.  

He smiled and shook his head.  “It’s nothing.  Promise.  I’m just glad to find his owner, he looked pretty lost.”  He bent slightly and retrieved her blanket from the ground, wrapping it around her and Bowie.  

“No, I mean it...You didn’t have to come find me, you could have just dumped him in the pound…”  

He shook his head again.  “No, no.  Sweet fella like that, I knew he must have had a home.  Speaking of…” he glanced up at the building.  “You got a place you’re going? I can call someone if you need me to.  Or I can lend you my phone?”  

“No, it’s fine.  My roommate is uh...getting us a hotel.”  

“Great.  Glad to hear it.” There was that smile again.  Kind of close-lipped.  Adorable.  He had dimples.

Kill her now, he had dimples. 

“Maximoff?  You’d better be on that truck in thirty seconds or you’re walking back, over.”  The voice on his radio was a little fuzzy, but she could definitely tell whoever it was meant business.  

“With a civilian, be right there, over.”  He answered.    

“Two minutes, over and out.”  

“Do you need anything at all? You’re not hurt, are you?”  

She shook her head.  “No.  Go.  My roomie’s right there…” she nodded towards Jane, who came rushing up, her face lighting up when she saw Bowie in her arms.  

“Gotcha.  Have a good one, ladies!”  He dropped his head and turned to leave.  

“Who was that?” Jane asked.  “You gotta fireman now?”  She waggled her eyebrows way more than someone who just lost their apartment should be waggling her eyebrows.  Which meant she was well past groggy, sleepy, ‘give-me-coffee-Jane and well into so-tired-I’m slap-happy-Jane.

Darcy rolled her eyes.  “No.  He brought me Bowie though. I might have to do something nice for him.”  

“Bake him something.  Cliché as it sounds, your cookies are the literal best,” Jane said.  “But I guess I don’t need to tell you that.  Everyone tells you that. Anywho, I called us a Lyft, Darce.  It’s supposed to pick us up at the end of the block, so let’s go.”  

“The place you got for us...does it allow cats?”  Darcy asked.  

“As a matter of fact, it does.  I made sure to ask,” Jane said with a grin.  “Because I KNEW Bowie was okay.”  

“I know, I know.  You know everything, Jane Foster.”  

“And the sooner you realize this, the better, Darce.”  


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woo hoo! Chapter 2!
> 
> Peter POV here. 
> 
> Also his fellow firemen are: Mort Toynbee (Toad), Scott Summers (Cyclops), and Jubilation Lee (Jubilee). Logan is his lieutenant, and Charles is the captain of this company. 
> 
> Idk, I needed a despicable person to be THAT guy. You know the one. ;) 
> 
> And Phoenix's will definitely be run by Jean Grey. Also, isn't Phoenix's a great place for firefighters to hang out? I'm pretty proud of myself for that one. ;)

“So...did you get her name?” Scott asked, pulling open his bag of chips with a sharp crinkle of cellophane.  The sound punctured the room, and it felt like everyone was staring.  

He kind of wished Summers had just kept his mouth shut.  But he supposed it was a legitimate question.  Considering he’d done little else but think about her and stare moony eyed at the painted cinderblock wall.

Peter shook his head.  “Nah. Wasn’t really a time to ask.”

Mort practically leapt into the seat beside Peter.  “Whaddya mean there wasn’t a time to ask?  She was outside.   _In her nighty_.  And there wasn’t a dude with her.  There was plenty of time to ask.  “Hey toots, what’s your name?  What are you doing for breakfast?”  

Peter snorted.  A short burst of sound that was intended to be a laugh but ended up sounding like something else entirely.  Something awkward and sad. A lone sound in the uncannily still air of the firehouse.  “That’s not allowed and you know it, Toynbee.  It’s abuse of power.”  

Mort sneered,  “I was gonna go over there, but I saw you walkin’ over and I thought I’d let you have her.  Thought I’d take one for the team, let you get your rocks off and stop bein’ such a jerkass all the time.  But you blew it, Maximoff.  You blew it.”  

Scott tossed a balled up piece of wax paper at Mort’s head..  “You can’t ask out a woman who just lost her home, Toynbee.”  He ducked when it was promptly thrown back at him.  He turned towards Peter. “You can, however...ask for her name, Maximoff.  Which you didn’t do. So I’m gonna have to agree with the Toad here, unfortunately.  You blew it.” 

Mort laughed, cracking open his soda and taking a huge swig before wiping his mouth on his sleeve.  The very picture of class.  “Ya burnt, Pete.  If Scottie even thinks you blew it…” He mimed an explosion.  “Ker-pow.”  

“I didn’t blow anything.  There wasn’t a time where it felt right to ask her name.  She was freaking out about her cat...and then…”  

“You even brought the cat back to her.  You had GAAAMME, Maximoff.”  Mort clucked his tongue.  “Didn’t your rotten old copper daddy teach you anything?”  

Peter snorted.  “You already know the answer to that.”  

His police chief father was a point of contention around here.  Contention in that he was teased mercilessly about it. Surprisingly, the teasing didn’t center around his father’s lately realized sexual identity, which found him engaged to their captain.  Of course, he supposed if they made fun of his father, they’d have to make fun of Charles too.  And not a single person in this firehouse was willing to do that.

Erik Lehnsherr had game, according to Mort ‘the Toad’ Toynbee.  He had so much game that he used it to pick up Charles Xavier.  

And he apparently hadn’t taught his son anything about it.

“You guys…”  Jubilee plopped down on the other side of Peter and cracked open her soda.  “Leave Lil Petey alone.  He got all flustered around the pretty girl.  Happens to the best of ya.”  She nudged him with her elbow. “It was adorable, Peter.”

He rolled his eyes.  “Great.  That’s just what I need, Jube.  The rep as the ‘adorable’ firefighter.”  

“Roll up your sleeves a little more and you could pull it off,” she said with wink. “There’s something to be said for a little beefcake.”

Mort laughed aloud, spraying orange peanut butter cracker crumbs everywhere.  “Where’s the beef, Lee?  I see no beef on that boy!”

“Dammit, Toad.  Stop eatin’ those things, will ya?”  Peter brushed off the front of his shirt.  “They stain your teeth.  It’s like talkin’ to a Jack o’ Lantern.”      

_ “HEY, PETE!” _

Peter heard his name being called from across the station. It sounded like Logan. His lieutenant’s bark was worse than his bite. It put a lot of people off at first, but he was used to it.  And in this instance it was infinitely better than sitting around and getting teased endlessly by his fellow firefighters.

Well, all except for Jubilee.  But if he was being honest, she was doing more harm than good.  It was better to just get up and leave the situation.

“LIEUTENANT?”  he called back in response.   

“PETE!  YOU GOT A VISITOR!”  

It’d be nice if he realized there were more than two decibel levels for communication, though.

He stood up from his seat, jogging around the end of the table and out of the dining room.  He followed the sound to the lobby, where he pretty much stopped dead in his tracks.  

Because it was  _ her _ .  

Of course, the last time he saw  _ her _ , she was wearing a pale pink satin nighty and shivering on the sidewalk in front of her smoldering building. Wait...was it pink?  Maybe it was orange?  No… not orange.  Peach?  Salmon?  He wasn’t good with colors.  

Whatever color it was, it looked good on her. 

Not that he was looking.  Because he was on duty.  And she… she’d been crying.  Or rather, she had tears in her eyes because she thought she’d lost her cat.  

He hadn’t gotten her name.  But she apparently had gotten his.

Today, she was fully dressed.  Not that he didn’t expect her to be.  It was just that in his mind, she was wearing that nighty and the crocheted afghan.  He pushed the thought out of his mind and focused on the now.  She was here now and she wasn’t wearing a nighty.  

He’d have to keep his mind out of the gutter.  It wasn’t appropriate.

She was wearing a pencil skirt.  Blue and yellow top.  Matching jacket.  And her hair was up.  But he knew it was her.  He’d recognize that face anywhere.  Those blue eyes.  That smile.  

She was full-on beaming at him, holding something out in front of her.  “Sorry…I hope this isn’t like…against the rules or anything…I’m…”  she stopped talking, looking around the station, her eyes flitting over to the door where he’d come in.  “I’m not getting you in trouble, am I?”

He glanced back where she’d looked just in time to see Logan duck out of the doorway.  

_ Oh boy. _

He turned back to face her, realizing that she was probably expecting him to talk now.  Right.  He looked down at her hand.  A tupperware container.  Full of cookies.  Honest-to-god cookies.  She’d brought him cookies.

“No, this… this is fine… I mean…I’m a public servant.   _ You’re _ allowed to…  _ I’m _ allowed to…”  

“I’m Darcy Lewis…” she said quickly, holding out the cookies to him once more, pressing them into his hands.  “You saved my cat?  I was wearing like… a pink nighty and freezing my tits off the last time you saw me…” 

Geez, she thought he didn’t remember her.  Like he could forget meeting someone like her. “No, I remember…” he said, holding the cookies in both hands because he’d forgotten what else to do with them.  

She had her purse on her shoulder, and she hiked it up further.  “I know you’re probably busy…but I wanted to thank you again for saving Bowie…I thought I’d lost him for sure.”

Bowie was her cat.   _ Awesome _ name, by the way.         

“No problem, Ms. Lewis…”  

“Darcy.”  

“Darcy…” he repeated.  “No problem, it’s…what I do.”  He grinned in what could only be described as a ‘goofy’ way.  He had that problem when he was nervous.  And she made him nervous. Holy shit, did she make him nervous. 

“I…um…was going to leave my number on the bowl…so you could…you know.  Give it back.  But…I looked it up and apparently, that’s frowned upon, so…” She pressed her lips together.  “So I didn’t.”  

“Yeah…” He looked down at the bowl and back up at her.  “Listen.  I go to this…this, uh, bar after work…Phoenix’s?  A lot of us do…”  He gestured behind him.  “But if I were to see  _ you _ there sometime…I could get your number…and give this back to you?”

_ Holy shit, Maximoff.  That was downright… smooth of you. _

She smiled, her cheeks reddening a little. “Would I be able to find you there  _ tonight _ ?”  

“Probably sometime after six…”

“Will you have time to eat all those?” She pointed down at the cookies.  

“They’re as good as gone…” he said with a smirk, knowing he’d be lucky to get even one for himself once he went back into the dining hall again.  

“I…I hope to see you again soon.”  

“Me…me too.” He was grinning again.  Goofy grinning. 

“I’ll  _ go _ … and uh, let you get back to work.”  

“Thanks for…” He raised the bowl again.

“No problem!” she called over her shoulder.  “It’s what  _ I _ do!”

He watched her walk away, listened to her heels click on the asphalt.  

And then he listened to the whooping and hollering behind him.  He turned back to face the rest of his company, who had all mysteriously showed up to stand in the hallway while he was talking to Darcy. Shaking his head as he made his way back to the dining room, he popped open the lid on the tupperware and pulled out two cookies.  One went immediately into his mouth and the other stayed in his hand to be devoured later.  And by later, he meant in approximately ten seconds, because holy shit, they were good cookies.  

“Whatcha got there, Maximoff?  Did your lady bring you something sweet?”  

“ _ Darcy _ ,” he said deliberately.  “Is not my lady, but she did bring me something sweet.”  

“Ohhhh, DARCY, huh?”  Mort tittered and reached inside the container to filch a couple cookies.  “Was that your nighty girl?”  

Peter rolled his eyes.  “Yep.  That’s her full name, too.  ‘Darcy the nighty girl’.”  

“I call for a motion to change her name to ‘Darcy the cookie girl’, because hot holy wow, these are amazing…”  Jubilee reached into the container and stole another four cookies.  “They remind me of something.  I can’t put my finger on it...”

“Whatchamacallits,” Summers interjected.  “Like the candy bar?  They taste like Whatchamacallits.”  

“YES, that’s it. Is there caramel in here?” 

Peter sighed and stuck the container in the middle of the table.  There was no way he was getting past the hordes to get any more of them now.  At least they weren’t making fun of him anymore.

_ And _ he had a pseudo, possibly not, possibly maybe, date with Darcy Lewis.  Darcy Lewis, who made amazing cookies and had a cat named Bowie.  And according to how that skirt fit her, had legs that went up to precisely  _ there _ . 

All in all, not a bad day.    


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date time, date time!
> 
> More cuteness in this chapter! I hope y'all like it. <3

Darcy didn’t know what she was doing here.  Well.  Yes, she did.  She was chasing after a really hot firefighter (no pun intended).

She drummed her fingers against her steering wheel as she looked towards the bar.  She hadn’t found a close parking spot, she’d had to actual facts PAY for a lot down the street.  But she could see the bar’s neon sign from here.  They’d just turned it on.  

_ Phoenix’s _ , it said.  With flames.  How original. 

Darcy sighed and reached for her purse, feeling out of place before she’d even stepped out of her car.  She was sure everything would be fine, but new social situations were stressful even for the most sociable people.  Of which she was not.  So this was just that much worse. 

She was wearing the same thing she’d been wearing earlier when she’d dropped by the fire station, but now for whatever reason, she wondered if she should have run home and changed.  She hadn’t had time to replace  _ all _ of her clothes that she’d lost in the fire, but she’d managed to pick up a few things in her and Jane’s mad shopping trip in their pajamas the morning after the fire.

She didn’t know what she’d do without Jane, to be completely honest.  Money wasn’t something she had a lot of, and Jane was seriously dipping into her savings for the hotel room.  

They had a bit of money coming to them from their renters insurance, but that wouldn’t be available for a while.  If Darcy was on her own, she’d be truly screwed.  With a capital ‘S’.

But as it was, she had Jane.  And therefore was only the same amount of screwed that she had been before the fire.  

Her accountant had met with her that morning.  And if she didn’t start bringing in business soon, the bakery was going to start losing money.  Instead of breaking even.  Which was what it was doing right now. 

How was it her fault that the old fuddy duddies who came in every morning only wanted boring old glazed donuts and coffee?  Did she look like Dunkin Donuts?  Did she?  

Okay, so maybe the orange and pink sign had been a mistake.  But hindsight’s 20/20.  

Her heels clicked on the sidewalk as she approached the bar.  There was a dull roar of chatter that made its way out through the door as people walked in and out of the establishment. 

She needed to either piss or get off the pot, she guessed.

Darcy gathered up her courage and reached for the door, stepping into the bar.  

There was a red-haired woman behind the bar. She gave Darcy a grin.  “Evening.”  

She smiled in reply.  “Hello.”  

“I’m gonna go on a hunch and say you’re Darcy?”  

Darcy’s eyebrows went up.  She had a rep, apparently.  “Uh, yeah, actually… I was invited by --”  

“PETER!”  The woman cupped her hand over her mouth and called back into the back of the bar.  “MAXIMOFF!”  

And there were probably a hundred firefighters in here.  Of which, probably ninety percent turned towards the bar to watch her.  She wanted to die.  Or turn around and leave. But she was here.  She was in this now.  

And then, once again, Peter jogged up and saved the day.  He waved slightly as he slowed down, walking towards her.  She took a few step towards him, meeting in the middle of the room amidst a slew of whistles from the others at his table.  

He was wearing that same tight t-shirt he’d been wearing that afternoon.  That same pair of work pants that hugged his ass in all the ways that pants SHOULD hug an ass.  

_ Dickies _ , that’s what they were.  Dickies work pants.  And she’d honestly never thought of them as a sexy item of clothing before.  In her mind, they were either worn by weird skinny dorks in poser clothes from Hot Topic while she was in high school or fat greasy guys named Mick who changed the oil in her car.

But here she was, kind of wishing they were alone so she could run her hand over the swell of his ass and squeeze. 

She didn’t ever claim to have appropriate thoughts, okay?

Her face reddened at the whistles and he stopped to make a rude gesture at the people making the noise before turning back to her. 

He grinned.  “Hey.  You came.”    

He was the same Hottie McHardbody she’d drooled over that afternoon, and  she was the same dorky idiot..  

Grinning widely, he had the kind of dazed look on his face like he couldn’t believe she was here.  Like he wasn’t expecting her to show.  

“Well…  _ yeah _ ,” she answered.  “Why wouldn’t I?”  It was easy to be bold when he didn’t know how hard it was for her to even come in here.  Of course, now she was glad she’d done it.  Because she couldn’t think of anything she’d rather be doing than standing here with him right here, right now.  

“You…uh…you wanna come sit down?  I’ll buy you a beer?”  

She faltered a little. “You don’t have to do that…” He didn’t.  Just because her apartment burned down didn’t mean she needed him to pay.  It was an impromptu evening.  She could pay for herself.

“You baked me cookies.  _ Amazing _ cookies, by the way.  They were gone five minutes after you left.  I only got two, but I sorta wanted to marry them, if that’s something I can say?  I dunno how I’d marry cookies, but if it was possible, I’d do that.  Anyway,  _ you _ made them...  _ And _ your apartment  _ just _ burned down, so I can only assume you did this by magic or Easy Bake Oven,” was his sort-of-no-definitely-rambling reply.  “So…yeah.  I’mma buy you a beer, gorgeous.”  

Darcy blushed.  She blushed hard.  “Well, I mean… you saved my cat.”  

“That  _ is _ my job.”  

“Saving cats is your job?”  

“Saving cats named Bowie – kick ass name, by the way – and putting out fires.  Yep.  That’s my job.  You baked me magic cookies. Which, unless you own a bakery, isn’t part of your job…”  

“I actually do own a bakery…” she said, her smile widening. “Over on 5th and Winchester? Mystical Munchies…  I’m not…  _ thrilled _ with the name, but it’s… it’s mine.“ 

His eyebrows went up.  “Okay…that’s…I didn’t know that.  Still.  You didn’t have to bring me anything. And you totally didn’t have to bring me the best cookies I’ve ever tasted either.  That’s just rude, Lewis.  So rude.”

“Rude, huh?  Well, you didn’t have to look all hot in your…” she gestured towards his ensemble. “Your work clothes.  Talk about rude.”

His grin was even wider, and as it turned out, he blushed too.  It was adorable.

“I guess I owe you an apology, then.   _ And _ a beer.”  

She was having a hard time arguing with him.  “Okay.  You buy the  _ first _ beer.  Second one’s on me. For making cookies of marriage quality.”  

“Deal,” he turned momentarily and Darcy panicked for a moment when she realized that she’d have to go sit with him at a table full of his friends.  But, he waved at them instead. “Let’s sit somewhere else, though.  And you can tell me all about your magical bakery.” 

He held up his hand in the bartender’s direction, raising two fingers and then pointing them at an empty booth on the opposite side of the bar. He called out, “Thanks, Jean!” He then proceeded to hold out his hand towards Darcy.  

She took it, lacing their fingers and feeling his tighten around her hand.  His skin was calloused and rough, but she liked how it felt.

“I hope uh… I’m not coming on too strong or anything…” he said with a soft laugh,helping her slide into the booth first and releasing her hand to sit on the other side. 

“Not at all,” she replied.  “I’m kind of a tactile person so…”  

“So you like touching…”  His hand slid back into hers.  “Good to know.”  

She grinned and looked down at the tabletop, running her other thumb over the scratches in the surface.

“You know… it occurred to me…” he said slowly.  “That if we’re buying beers based on rudeness.  You might owe me two.”  

“Two, huh? How do you figure?”

“Well, one for bringing me those cookies.  Super rude.”  

“The worst,” she agreed.  

“And one for being so damn beautiful I can’t take my eyes off you…”  

She giggled.  “I was mistaken.   _ That _ was the worst.”

“Too much?” he asked, tilting his head to the side and sliding his thumb over the back of her hand.  

“Just a little.”  

“Don’t care.  I meant it.”  

“No, you didn’t.”  

“How d’you know?” he asked.  

Laughing, she shook her head.  “I dunno, Maximoff.  I feel like the whole thing reeks of a  _ play _ .”  

“A play?” he laughed.  “A play would imply that I have game.  And I, sadly, do not.”  

“Okay, now I know  _ that’s _ bull. It stinks to high heaven.”  

“Why is  _ that _ bull?  What is even inherently  _ bull _ -like about that?”  

“Well, for one…” she began.  “ _ You _ are a firefighter.  That fact right there pushes you  _ way _ ahead of everyone else on the field.  And two?”  She held up two fingers.  “You are so hot, they probably could put twelve months of  _ you _ on the next Fire Department calendar and sell enough to fund everything it could possibly need. Bonus, you’re witty and funny.  You’re pretty much the whole package. So that’s why I call bull.  Because  _ PEW _ , there is something FUNKY in the state of here.”  

She crossed her legs beneath the table, thrilling a little when the toe of her shoe dragged against his calf.  But she covered well, shooting him a look of know-it-all-iness that would have done her mother proud.  

“What if I told you I haven’t had a date in a year?”  he asked, that mischievous grin back in all its former glory.

“Lies.  All of it lies.  You probably had a date last night.”  

The beers were plunked down on the table at this point and Peter nodded once at the server who’d brought them.  He grabbed them both and scooted out of the booth.  “C’mon, I’ll prove it.”  

She got up, taking the beer from him and following him back over to the table with all of his firefighter friends.  

Her stomach clenched up again as they all boomed greetings in their direction.  She waved hello and took a sip of her beer.  

“Guys.  This is Darcy.”  

“Darcy with the cookies?” asked a woman with two bottles and a bowl of peanuts in front of her.  She wasn’t eating them so much as destroying the shells. 

Peter smirked.  “Yeah, she’s the one who brought the cookies.”  

There was another round of whooping and loud greetings.  Darcy blushed, but didn’t feel as self-conscious as she expected.  

“Darce, this is Jubilee…” He gestured towards the woman. “And then from her left… Scott, Mort, Lieutenant Howlett…”  

“Logan,” he said gruffly, nodding once.  Darcy recognized him as the man who’d greeted her at the front desk earlier.  

Peter went around the table, introducing more people than Darcy could possibly remember before he moved on with the reason they were here. “Care to settle a bet?” he asked, plopping his drink down on the end of the table.  “Tell me, do I, Peter Maximoff, have game?”  

“Not unless the game is blowing it,”  said one of the guys (Mort, she thought). inspiring laughter.  

“Hey Darcy…”  One of the others said, holding his hand out. “I’m Scott, by the way… and no offense to our boy here, but I don’t think he’s been on a date in a year.”  

“Not offensive if it’s true,” said Jubilee, grinning widely.  

“Are you serious?” Darcy turned to face Peter, unable to believe that this gorgeous man in front of her hadn’t so much as taken a girl out in a year.  How was that possible?  Dude was a firefighter.

He shrugged and took a swig of his beer.  “As a heart attack.”

“You’re just special, Darcy…”  Jubilee said with a wink.  “It think it’s the cookies.  Or maybe the legs.  Those don’t hurt either…”  

“ _ Okay _ …”  Peter jerked his head over his shoulder.  “That’s enough from the peanut gallery.”  

“Aww…” Darcy said with a slight smirk. “I kinda wanted to hear about my legs.”  

He shook his head and she followed him back over to their table.  

“I don’t get many compliments about my legs… you must be a leg man”  she ventured, taking another dainty sip of her beer.  

“Now I’m gonna call bullshit. About the first part.  Not the last.  Because the last is dead on.” 

“Most people don’t make it past the ladies…” she said with a wink.  

His eyes darted down for a split second, long enough to make him blush once he realized what he’d done.  “Sorry…” 

“Don’t worry about it, I checked out your ass when we were walking over here.” 

“Rude.”  

“Likewise.” He was blushing hard.  Still.  She knew there was something she had to ask him before she got any more infatuated with his smile, his ass, or his arms.  “So… is it safe to say that this is… this is a  _ thing _ ?”  She gestured vaguely between them.  “Is this a thing that’s happening?”  

“I certainly hope so,” he replied.

“Good.  Because I hope so too.”    

There was a loud commotion back in the pool room, a roar of laughter that carried out here into the main bar area.        

“You wanna get out of here?” he asked.  “Go for a walk or something?”  

“Where’d you have in mind?” 

He shrugged.  “Somewhere else… somewhere quiet, maybe?”  

“You wanna see my bakery?” she asked.  “It’s close.  And quiet.  And if you play your cards right, I’ll give you more cookies.”  

He stood up immediately, dropping a twenty on the table before grabbing her hand in a comically quick way and practically dragging her to front door. 

“And you can tell me all about my lovely legs on the way there…” she said with a grin.

“Whatever you want, Peaches.”

Peaches.  That was a new one.  She kind of liked it, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Formal smut warning for the next chapter, though. ;)


End file.
